Wisconsin Question 1, Ban on Private and Non-Governmental Funding of Election Administration Amendment (April 2024)

Wisconsin Question 1
Election date April 2, 2024
Topic Elections and campaigns
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Wisconsin Question 1, the Prohibition on Non-Governmental Funding of Elections Amendment, was on the ballot in Wisconsin as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on April 2, 2024. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported this amendment to prohibit any level of government in the state from applying or accepting non-governmental funds or equipment for election administration.

A "no" vote opposed this amendment to prohibit any level of government in the state from applying or accepting non-governmental funds or equipment for election administration.

Election results

Wisconsin Question 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		638,555	54.43%
No		534,612	45.57%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What did Question 1 do?

See also: Text of measure

Question 1 amended the Wisconsin Constitution to add a section to Article III to prohibit any level of government in the state from applying or accepting non-governmental funds or equipment for election administration. Question 1 was placed on the ballot with another amendment for the same section that provided that only election officials designated by law may administer elections. It was also approved.

Do other states have similar prohibitions?

See also: Laws governing the private funding of elections

As of January 2024, 27 states had enacted laws banning or otherwise restricting the use of private donations for election administration purposes. Twenty-one of these states had a Republican trifecta when the law was adopted; the six other states had divided government at the time. No states banned or restricted private election funding prior to 2021.

In 2023, Louisiana voters approved the first state constitutional amendment designed to ban private or foreign election funding. The legislatively referred amendment was approved with 72.57% of the vote.

Who supported and opposed Question 1?

See also: Support and Opposition

Question 1 is a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The vote to place Question 1 on the ballot was along party lines with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.

Question 1 received endorsements from Election Integrity for Wisconsin, Opportunity Solutions Project, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, and Wisconsin Voter Alliance. Kyle Koenen, the policy director of the Wisconsin Institute for Liberty & Law, said, "In the interest of upholding fairness and safeguarding the integrity of our democratic process, it is essential to maintain a non-partisan electoral system that is free from external financial influences. The concerns that have been expressed regarding Mark Zuckerberg's extensive funding of election administration in Democratic-leaning communities closely parallel the worries that would emerge if a donor with right-leaning inclinations were to direct their resources exclusively toward Republican-leaning areas. AJR 77 and SJR 78 underscore the need to establish a clear standard: private funding should not have a role in the administration of Wisconsin's elections."

Question 1 was opposed by All Voting is Local Action Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Sam Liebert, state director of All Voting is Local Action Wisconsin, said, "These proposals, under the guise of protecting our elections, are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to restrict voting rights and undermine the very foundations of our democratic system. It is our duty to stand firm in defending the rights and inclusivity of all eligible voters in our democracy."

Text of measure

Ballot question

The ballot question for the amendment was as follows:

“

Use of private funds in election administration. Shall section 7 (1) of Article III of the constitution be created to provide that private donations and grants may not be applied for, accepted, expended, or used in connection with the conduct of any primary, election, or referendum?

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article III, Wisconsin Constitution

The measure added section 7 of Article III to the state constitution. The following underlined text was added:

Section 7. (1) No state agency or officer or employee in state government and no political subdivision of the state or officer or employee of a political subdivision may apply for, accept, expend, or use any moneys or equipment in connection with the conduct of any primary, election, or referendum if the moneys or equipment are donated or granted by an individual or nongovernmental entity.

Full text

The full text can be read here.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 14, and the FRE is 31. The word count for the ballot title is 44.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• State Sen. Eric Wimberger (R)
• State Rep. Tyler August (R)

Organizations

• Election Integrity for Wisconsin
• Opportunity Solutions Project
• Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
• Wisconsin Voter Alliance

Arguments

• Kyle Koenen, the policy director of the Wisconsin Institute for Liberty & Law: "In the interest of upholding fairness and safeguarding the integrity of our democratic process, it is essential to maintain a non-partisan electoral system that is free from external financial influences. The concerns that have been expressed regarding Mark Zuckerberg's extensive funding of election administration in Democratic-leaning communities closely parallel the worries that would emerge if a donor with right-leaning inclinations were to direct their resources exclusively toward Republican-leaning areas. AJR 77 and SJR 78 underscore the need to establish a clear standard: private funding should not have a role in the administration of Wisconsin's elections."
• Madeline Malisa, visiting fellow at the Opportunity Solutions Project: "The funding of election operations, and where and how funds are being spent, are decisions that you—Wisconsin lawmakers—should make and not unaccountable special interest groups. Private funding of elections effectively allows private actors to influence who the winners and losers will be. These bills will safeguard Wisconsin elections from outside influence by prohibiting local governments from applying for, accepting, or spending any funding from private individuals or third parties for election administration. It will also allow only election officials to administer elections."
• Rick Esenberg, president of Wisconsin Institute for Liberty & Law: "There was money spent on soccer stadiums, there was money spent on all sorts of minor things, but then there was a lot of money that was directed to groups like Planned Parenthood or other entities where Gov. Evers could expect to find support. This isn't just a partisan issue. Any governor given this authority is going to act politically. And so, I think that one of the points that we want to make with our partners at The Institute for Reforming Government, is that everybody should support this because nobody should want this much authority to be vested in the governor."

Opposition

Opponents

Organizations

• ACLU of Wisconsin
• All Voting is Local Action Wisconsin
• League of Women Voters of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Conservation Voters
• Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Arguments

• Kyle Johnson, political director for Black Leaders Organizing Communities (BLOC): "Without these funds, our elections will be under-resourced and the burden will fall on taxpayers. The bottom line is: grants and donations keep taxes low and elections accessible."
• ACLU of Wisconsin: "Elections are underfunded. Local municipalities run Wisconsin's local, state, and federal elections on shoestring budgets. Grants banned by this proposal have provided a lifeline to help clerks pay for equipment, polling place rental, poll workers, and supplies to protect your right to vote and make elections run smoothly and securely."
• Sam Liebert, state director of All Voting is Local Action Wisconsin: "These proposals, under the guise of protecting our elections, are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to restrict voting rights and undermine the very foundations of our democratic system. It is our duty to stand firm in defending the rights and inclusivity of all eligible voters in our democracy."
• Joan Schwarz, secretary of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin: "Now is the time to be mindful that our Constitution not become the repository for a flurry of controversial, restrictive social policies with misleading and ambiguous language that the gerrymandered Legislature is proposing which, if passed, will be enshrined in our Constitution."

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Wisconsin ballot measures

If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose this amendment, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Background

Laws governing the private funding of elections

See also: Laws governing the private funding of elections

The private funding of elections refers to the practice of nonprofits, private organizations, or individuals providing funding or other resources to election administrators for the purpose of conducting or administering an election. Debate over using private resources for election costs began after donations from individuals, such as those made by Mark Zuckerburg, to nonprofits, including the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), ahead of the 2020 general election. These organizations subsequently made a series of donations and grants to election administrators.

At the time of the election, 27 states had enacted laws banning or otherwise restricting the use of private donations for election administration purposes. Twenty-one of these states had a Republican trifecta when the law was adopted; the six other states had divided government at the time. No states banned or restricted private election funding prior to 2021.

The map below shows the landscape of private funding laws as of March 2024, including all states that had enacted laws and those states' trifecta status at the time of enactment.

Mark Zuckerberg donations to Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) and Center for Election Innovation and Research

In the run-up to the November 3, 2020, general election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, donated $350 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL). They also donated $50 million to the Center for Election Innovation and Research, saying the money was intended to help "election officials across the nation reach their voters with critical information about voter registration, mail voting, early voting, polling locations and hours, and the vote-counting process."

These donations sparked debate about the propriety of non-governmental entities providing private funding for election administration efforts. In a Newsweek op-ed, the Brennan Center's Wendy Weiser and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, said, "[The COVID-19] pandemic poses a national emergency impacting the very foundation of our democracy, and the Senate adjourned until Labor Day without giving states and local officials the funding they need to run safe and fair elections this fall. … We have reached an extraordinary point where we have no choice but to look to civil society—the business community and other private groups and organizations—to help fill the breach." Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, said that CTCL staffers were former Democratic Party operatives whose goal was to improve Democrats' electoral prospects: "Can you imagine if the Charles Koch Foundation were to become involved with election officials? It would be front page news in The New York Times." For more information about about CTCL grants given to local election officials in 2020, see this article.

Grants received by Wisconsin localities in 2020 by Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)

According to the 990 tax form filed by the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), local jurisdictions in 38 of Wisconsin's 72 counties received over $10 million in grants from CTCL for the 2020 general election. The table below breaks down the grant amounts by county.

Ballot measures related to private funding of election administration

See also: Louisiana Amendment 1 (2023) and Michigan Proposal 2 (2022)

In 2023, Louisiana voters approved the first state constitutional amendment designed to ban private or foreign election funding. The legislatively referred amendment was approved with 72.57% of the vote.

In 2022, Michigan voters approved a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment that allowed local governments to accept charitable and in-kind donations to assist with running elections as long as donations are disclosed and aren’t from foreign entities among other changes. It was approved with 59.99% of the vote.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Wisconsin Constitution

In Wisconsin, the state legislature is required to approve an amendment by majority vote in two successive sessions for the amendment to appear on the ballot.

2021-2022 legislative session

The amendment was introduced as Senate Joint Resolution 101 (SJR 101). The Wisconsin State Senate approved the amendment by a vote of 21-11 with one not voting on February 22, 2022. The Wisconsin State Assembly approved SJR 101 by a vote of 58-32 with five not voting on February 24, 2022.

Vote in the Wisconsin State Senate February 22, 2022
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber in two sessions
Number of yes votes required: 17  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	21	11	1
Total percent	63.7%	33.3%	3.0%
Democrat	0	11	1
Republican	21	0	0

Vote in the Wisconsin House of Representatives February 24, 2022
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber in two sessions
Number of yes votes required: 48  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	58	32	5
Total percent	61.0%	33.7%	5.3%
Democrat	0	32	4
Republican	58	0	1

2023-2024 legislative session

The amendment was introduced as Senate Joint Resolution 78 (SJR 78). The Wisconsin State Senate approved the amendment by a vote of 21-10 with two not voting on November 7, 2023. The Wisconsin State Assembly approved SJR 78 by a vote of 60-35 with four not voting on November 9, 2023. The resolution placed two separate questions on the April ballot related to election administration.

Vote in the Wisconsin State Senate November 7, 2023
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber in two sessions
Number of yes votes required: 17  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	21	10	2
Total percent	63.6%	30.3%	6.1%
Democrat	0	10	1
Republican	21	0	1

Vote in the Wisconsin House of Representatives November 9, 2023
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber in two sessions
Number of yes votes required: 50  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	60	35	4
Total percent	60.6%	35.4%	4.0%
Democrat	0	35	0
Republican	60	0	4

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Wisconsin

See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Wisconsin.

How to vote in Wisconsin

Poll times

In Wisconsin, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Registration

Check your voter registration status here.

To register to vote in Wisconsin, one must be a citizen of the United States and a resident of Wisconsin for at least 28 days prior to the election. A voter must be at least 18 years of age by Election Day.

Prospective voters can register online or by mailing a form to their municipal clerk. If registering by mail, the application must be postmarked no later than 20 days before the election. In-person registration must be completed by 5 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day. Prospective voters can also register in person at their municipal clerk's office up until the Friday before the election or at their polling place on Election Day. (Same-day voter registration requires proof of residency.)

Automatic registration

Wisconsin does not practice automatic voter registration.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

Wisconsin has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

Wisconsin allows same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

Wisconsin law requires 28 days of residency in a precinct before a person may vote.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

Wisconsin does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. According to the state's voter registration application, a voter who provides false information "may be subject to fine or imprisonment under State and Federal laws."

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. As of January 2025, six states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, and New Hampshire — had passed laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration. However, only two of those states' laws were in effect, in Arizona and New Hampshire. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allowed noncitizens to vote in some local elections as of November 2024. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The site My Vote, run by the Wisconsin Election Commission, allows residents to check their voter registration status online.

Voter ID requirements

Wisconsin requires voters to present photo identification while voting.

The following list of accepted ID was current as of May 2023. Click here for the Wisconsin Secretary of State's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information.

• Wisconsin Department of Transportation-issued driver license, even if driving privileges are revoked or suspended
• Wisconsin Department of Transportation-issued identification card, with or without a photo
• Military ID card issued by the U.S. Uniformed Services
• U.S. passport book or card
• Identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in Wisconsin (can be expired or unexpired)
• Photo identification card issued by a Wisconsin accredited university or college, or technical college, containing the date the card was issued and a signature. (If expired, the voter must also provide a separate document proving enrollment).
• Veteran's photo ID card issued by a government authority
• Certificate of naturalization issued within the past two years
• Driver’s license receipt issued by Wisconsin Department of Transportation (valid for 45 days from date issued)
• Identification card receipt issued by Wisconsin Department of Transportation (valid for 45 days from date issued)
• Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles ID Petition Process Photo Receipt (valid for 60 days from date issued)

The following voters do not need to provide photo ID:

• Confidential electors
• Active military and permanent overseas voters who vote by absentee ballot
• Indefinitely confined voters who vote by absentee ballot

Voters can obtain a free Wisconsin State ID Card at a Wisconsin Division of Motor Vehicles office. Voters need the following to apply for an ID:

• Proof of name and date of birth (birth certificate)
• Proof of identity (Social Security Card, Medicaid/Medicare Card, etc.)
• Proof of Wisconsin residency (utility bill, government mail, lease, etc.)
• Proof of U.S. citizenship (U.S. Birth certificate or citizenship paperwork)
• Social Security Number

Voters who do not have all or any of the materials listed above can still obtain an ID. Call the voter ID hotline for assistance at (844) 588-1069.

See also

2024 measures

• 2024 ballot measures
• Elections and campaigns on the ballot

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin ballot measures
• Wisconsin ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Full text